Casino News Roundup: Michigan Bill, Costa Rica, Talk Show

This week’s casino news kicks off in Michigan where, once again, the topic of legalizing online gaming is on the table. We’ll start there as we round up this week’s important casino headlines:

Michigan Online Gambling Bill Back On The Table

There have been talks about Michigan getting in on the online casino and sports betting game for a while now but there has been little movement until recently. Last week, Rep. Brandt Iden was working on getting other members of government on his side for an iGaming bill. This bill is a changed version of one that was put forth by Iden last September, which is roughly the last time we heard about Michigan and online gambling. The difference with this version is that it features a gross gaming revenue tax of eight percent with an option for online sports betting for casinos in Detroit and the ones operated by native tribes in the state.

The casinos in Detroit are the Greektown Casino, the MGM Grand Detroit and the MotorCity Casino, and they’re all on board. However, the tribes haven’t announced their support of the bill yet. The sports betting aspect of the bill, which is titled H4926, was thrown in at the last minute. While it makes sense to discuss and legalize both at the same time, it may make this bill less likely to get Yes votes from an old school-minded government.

Many states are still waiting on the Supreme Court to take the lead and pass judgment on the case of sports betting in New Jersey, which should happen in the next two months.

Costa Rica Welcoming $400-Million Casino

Gambling in Costa Rica is about to get kicked up a notch. Ground is scheduled to be broken on a new casino in Costa Rica in early 2019. The Casino City Caribe, which will cost around $400 million to build, is slated to be finished in 2027. While that may seem like a long time, keep in mind that the construction will have several phases but we don’t have any timelines on the individual segments just yet.

Located in Moin, which is slightly northwest of Limon and east of the capital of San Jose, the hotel will have 264 rooms in total along with 219 apartment units. There will be a pair of convention centers along with amenities such as a spa and wellness center, theaters and more. By the time the casino is completed, it is expected that around 1,500 jobs will be created.

Costa Rica welcomed about three million tourists in 2017 and with one of the most modern casinos in South America, it’ll be hoping to capture even more visitors once it’s up and running.

LetsBet.com Launches Talk Show

LetsBet.com spent a year researching and building its model, and now it’s finally live. What’s described as “the baby of a social media site and an online casino” is going to generate some buzz but whether it’s something long-lasting or not is still to be determined.

LetsBet has opened an online casino but what’s unique about this site is that it has also launched what it says is the world’s first online casino talk show. The show will run seven hours each day where players can chat with hosts, get quizzed by them and talk about game reviews and various other gaming-related topics. LetsBet.com will be shown in Swedish first in Sweden, Finland and Norway.